The Vienna Hub brings Safety and Security

Fight against crime

Organised crime does not stop at national borders. Criminals make billions from trafficking in drugs, arms and human beings or in the seemingly limit-less worlds of cyberspace. Every country is affected and called upon to protect the safety and security of its citizens. The Vienna-based UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) coordinates inter-national efforts aimed at preventing and fighting crime and assists countries by concrete projects. In this context, a special focus is being placed on respecting the rule of law and human rights. The globalisation of crime requires a globalised response in order to ensure greater safety and security for each and every citizen also in Austria.

Cocoa instead of cocaine

Cultivating drugs is often driven by poverty and the struggle for survival rather than by greed. UNODC supports, also by means of Austrian project fun-ding, farmers in typical drug cultivation regions by facilitating a change to legal and sustainable production, thus enab-ling them to earn a living wage. Quality and environmental protection standards as well as fair trade also play an import-ant role. Products from such “alterna-tive” development projects are inter alia used to produce high-quality Austrian chocolate.

A world free of corruption

Corruption benefits a few at the expense of the general public: billions of euros disappear into the pockets of corrupt individuals. Corruption under-mines democracy and the rule of law and jeopardizes the development of whole countries. In fighting this global phenomenon, UNODC cooperates with governments, experts and non-govern-mental organisations. The International Anti-Corruption Academy in Laxenburg (IACA) is a centre for training anti-cor-ruption experts, collecting and sharing of expert knowledge, know-how and best practice examples of anti-cor-ruption activities.

Words instead of arms

Whenever political tensions are at risk of escalating into military conflict in Europe or Central Asia, the Vienna-based Orga-nisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is challenged. The OSCE negotiates confidence-building measu-res between its 57 participating states, ranging from the USA to the Russian Federation and Tajikistan. It operates field missions in the Balkans, in Ukraine and Moldova, in the Caucasus and in all Central Asian successor republics of the former Soviet Union. From its Vienna headquarters, the Organisation strives to foster progress in the fields of security and disarmament, strengthen human rights and promote environmental and economic issues. People are thus the key focus of the OSCE security concept.